22 December 2009

At the young age of 6 months the wrapping was obviously the most exciting aspect of Christmas. Later he has learned to appreciate the true meaning - that the Lord sent his Son into the world to save us.

Long days at work and Christmas preparations have made little time for blogging lately. I promise to come back with new contributions after the holidays.

I just want to thank everyone for visiting my blog! Thanks for your patience!

9 December 2009

Attorney General Martha Coakley is definately the front-runner in the race to win the special election in Massachusetts to fill the seat held for 47 years by Edward Moore Kennedy. Coakley easily secured the Democratic nomination yesterday by gaining 47 % of the votes.

US Representative Michael E. Capuano came second with 28 percent, while City Year cofounder Alan Khazei and Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen G. Pagliluca got 13 and 12 percent of the votes respectively.

Coakley will face the Republican State Senator Scott P. Brown in the special election that will take place on 19 January 2010. The Kennedy family has in a statement said that they are confident that Coakley will win the election. The family chose not to endorse any of the Democratic candidates before the primary election, but is now 100% behind the Coakley candidature.

7 December 2009

I follow a lot of blogs, and not only royalty-related ones. My third cousin Arthur Bjorn Egeli is a well-stablished painted residing in Pasadena, California. His blog Arthur Egeli Paintings is worth checking out, although I wish he updated it more often. He has a website as well, by the way.

Arthur's first cousin Lisa from Maryland, who like Arthur is also my third cousin, doesn't have a blog, but she has a great website, and she is on Facebook and Twitter as well. For more on the Egeli artists, please go to my Ekeli page.

Some times it is funny to just click on "Next blog" (at least Blogspot.com has that option) and see what happens. There are some talented artists and bloggers out there, like Drawman, Karen Thumm, Bill Guffey and Elephant Art.

If you are into genealogy, you might want to check out Arnfrid Mæland's blog Fjellsiden (The Mountain Side), where you can among read about the Norwegian ancestry of Arlene Carol Dahl and Joni Mitchell. You need to understand some Norwegian though. But the Joni Mitchell article has a link to another Mithell article written in English.

And if you have realized how much history and genealogy you can learn from visiting a cemetery, then maybe A Morbid Fascination is a blog to visit?

6 December 2009

Grave of King Zog of the Albanians (1895-1961), proclaimed King 1928, in exile from 1939. According to Associated Press 9 October 2009, plans are under way to move the remains of King Zog to his homeland.

King Zog's elder sister Princess Adile (1890-1966) and her son Salih Doshishti (1913-1983) are also buried at Cimetière de Thiais.

The back side of the Zogu grave.

Grave of Abdel Rahman Rustem (1891-1970), a member of the royal court of Albania (?).

King Zog's grave seen from a distance.

Hommage du Maire et du Conseil de Paris aux personnes ayant fait don de leur corps à la science Paris - 1982 (homage of the Mayor and Council of Paris to the people who have donated their bodies to science).

Memorials of people who have donated their bodies to science.

Different ethnic groups and different countries give different traditions of memorials.

Le cimetière parisien de Thiais (Cimetière de Thiais) in Paris can be reached by taking the metro line no. 7 to Villejuif-Louis-Aragon (end of line 7) and then bus no. 185 or 285 (six stops). When you enter the cemetery you will find a big sign with a map of the various sections. King Zog's grave is pointed out. See also the map (in pdf) at the official website.

26 November 2009

We don't have mausoleums like this one in Norway. It is interesting to see how different burial traditions are from country to country.

Gudrun Simonetta (1951-1983) - of Scandinavian or German ancestry?

L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph in the background. You can also spot one of the transmission towers at the park of Mount Royal.

The Shaughnessy family grave.

Thomas George ShaughnessyFirst Baron Shaughnessy of Montreal Canada and Ashford County Limerick
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Knight Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England
D.C.I. Trinity College Dublin and Dartmouth College Hanover USA
LL.D. McGill University Montreal
President Canadian Pacific Railway Company 1899-1918
and Chairman of the Board of Directors 1911-1923
Born October 6th 1853 Died December 10th 1923
and his wife
Elizabeth Bridget NagleBorn August 15th 1853 Died May 8th 1937

William James, 2nd Baron Shaughnessy, K.C.
Born December 29, 1883 Died October 4, 1938

I am not sure who this gentleman - Pierre-Alexandre Gerbaux - was, but it was an interesting memorial.

Last resting place of Maurice Richard (1921-2000), one of the greatest Canadian ice hockey players of all times, and his wife Lucille Norchet (1924-1994).

Grave of Fernand Rinfret (1883-1939), Secretary of State of Canada 1926-1930, 1935-1939. Mayor of Montreal 1932-1934.

The Catholic cemetery of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is located at 4601 Côte-des-Neiges Road in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and can be reached among others by metro to Côte-des-Neiges or by foot from Mount Royal (entrance Camilien-Houde Road). Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Canada and the third-largest in North America. See Wikipedia or the official website for a list of notable internments. Unfortunately I still have a lot to learn about the history of Canada ant its most prominent citizens of the past, so I surely missed many resting places of famous people. I just walked around, looking at interesting and artistic gravestones. Absolutely worth a visit, but maybe not in the middle of the day in July - the temperatures can easily pass 30 ˚C.

Mount Royal Cemetery is located not far from Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, but I didn't find time to visit it. Maybe another time...

20 November 2009

I visited the Notre Dame Cemetery in Ottawa on the same day I went to Beechwood Cemetery, but it started to rain rather heavily on my arrival, so I wasn't able to see much. But at least I got to see the grave of Sir Wilfrid Laurier before I had to give in. See Wikipedia or the official website for information on other graves.

Notre Dame Cemetery is located at 455 Montreal Road just south of Beechwood Cemetery and can be reached by bus 12 from Queen and Metcalfe downtown. Directions.

The Scandinavian royal heirs - Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden – visited Svalbard and the Arctic Sea in 2008 and this summer Greenland. They brought with them leading Scandinavian polar explorers.

Now the Scandinavian heirs have published a book about their impressions of their polar cruising, «Kongelig Polartokt» («Royal Polar Expedition» - or rather «Royal Polar Cruising»). The publisher, Cappelen Damm, gives the following description:

«Join three committed royal heirs on an unforgettable journey in the Arctic Sea, to Svalbard and Greenland. Through their own texts they pass on their own impressions and, not least, their commitment for the areas in the north and the climate challenges we are confronted with.

With them on their journey they had invited three researchers, who help us to understand the climate changes and what consequences they may have.»

The preamble is written by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who describes the book as «bemerkelsesverdig» («remarkable»).

(Photo: Veronica Melå, The Royal Court)

I have not read the book, but the Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten published its review today, written by Ole Mathismoen. He describes the book as more than «jippo» («PR gimmick»): The book is easy to read, where difficult words are replaced by good explanations. It is far from pretentious. With this book the three royals’ Arctic trips have become something very different from what it looked liked when they took place, an expensive «jippo» with a royalty-fixated press corps following them. With this book the two-part journey has become some of the most important they have done. The book will reach a totally different audience than the politicians, environmentalists and journalists normally establish contact with when the climate threat is on the agenda. Some people might be criticizing the royals for taking such a clear viewpoint on a topic which still, at least to some extent, is politically controversial.» The rather biased journalist concludes with the pompous line «I’d rather have brave royal heirs than vague and evasive politicians».

Well, it might be a good thing – at least occasionally – that royals dare to take a clear viewpoint. But many could as easily criticize them for once again being «politically correct». One wonders what the public would have said if the royal heirs had made a more critical view of «the established truths» about climate change and its causes?

The court confirmed again that the reburial of King Peter II at the Royal Family's Mausoleum at Oplenac, where other members of the Royal Family are buried, is under planning. It is not known at present how far the process of planning has come and when the remains will be brought back to Serbia.

Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Canada, can be reached by bus no. 7, which goes to the Beechwood entrance from St. Laurent Shopping Centre and the Rideau Centre downtown. Directions.

It is a huge cemetery, so please remember to have good shoes!

Updated on Thursday 7 May 2015 at 10 p.m. (correcting the misinformation that Karen Gerda Hnatshyn was of Norwegian ancestry - according to an e-mail from The Hnatshyn Foundation's administration 7 May 2015, both her parents and grandparents were Danish).

This blog is written by Dag T. Hoelseth, a Norwegian historian specialising in royal history.
I have a Cand.philol. degree in history from the University of Oslo and graduated in 1997 with the dissertation Det nasjonale kongedømme. Det norske monarkiet 1905-1910, which dealt with the royal election in Norway 1905 and how the new dynasty "became Norwegian".
I am the author of Historisk utredning om Kongehuset, dets apanasjer og disponible statseiendommer, which was published on behalf of the Palace Committee in 2001. The report focused among others on the history of the Norwegian civil list from 1905 to the 1970s as well as the properties the king of Norway has to his disposal.
I have made contributions to several antologies and also written articles for various publications. More often I have operated "behind the scene", consulting newspapers etc. with background information.
Among my other interests are genealogy, Norwegian-American emigration history, US presidential history, traveling, football and ice hockey.